Canadian Health Authorities Want to Extend Compulsory School Vaccination.
Canadian Health Ministry spokesman Vivien Didier stated yesterday on Canadian television that both houses of Parliament are reviewing the National Immunization Strategy (MIS) initiative to make Meningitis and Hepatitis A vaccination obligatory in all Canadian public and private schools.
Since 2003, the National Immunization Strategy has assisted the vaccination program planning in Canada by bringing immunization issues to the forefront of the Canadian public health agenda. It is noted in the press that this initiative is also backed and lobbied by Sanofi Pasteur, Canada’s largest preventable diseases vaccination company, developers of a number of well-known immunization shots like Vivaxim, Adacel, Menactra or Immucyst.
Political reviewers in Toronto Star assess the probability of its endorsement as “reasonably high” and expect the initiative to be approved in the first reading. No exact financing figures for it are specified. The initiative is scheduled for discussion in Ottawa in the first week of May and if approved may go in effect in September 2008 with the new schoolyear.
